Video: Israel Minister Drinks, Celebrates Death Penalty Law For Palestinians

Just minutes after Israeli parliament approved a controversial law allowing the execution of Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and the biggest backer of the bill, came out celebrating with drinks in hand. 

"Soon we will count them one by one," he said as he poured drinks for others,

The bill was passed on Monday with 62 lawmakers voting in favour and 48 against, including support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We made history!!! We promised. We delivered," Ben Gvir posted on X after the vote.

Ben Gvir qui trinque en disant "à la vie" en hébreu, pour célébrer la mort! pic.twitter.com/X7RrFWOltH

— Ambassadeur Abdal Karim Ewaida (@KarimEwaida) March 30, 2026

What The New Law Says

The bill introduces the death penalty as the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who are convicted of carrying out deadly attacks classified as terrorism by Israeli military courts. It allows for life imprisonment instead of execution only under what it describes as "special circumstances".

Under the same law, Israeli criminal courts can impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on anyone who "intentionally causes the death of a person with the aim of harming an Israeli citizen or resident out of an intention to put an end to the existence of the State of Israel."

The bill specifies hanging as the method of execution. It also states that the sentence should be carried out within 90 days of conviction, with a possible delay of up to 180 days.

Shortly after the bill was passed, a leading rights group filed a petition with Israel's Supreme Court seeking to block the law. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel argued that the legislation creates unequal legal standards. "The law creates two parallel tracks, both designed to apply to Palestinians," the group said.

While the death penalty exists in Israeli law for a limited number of crimes, it has rarely been used. The last execution carried out by the state was in 1962, when Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was put to death.

The bill has drawn strong reactions from international leaders. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called it "a step closer to apartheid."

"It is an asymmetric measure that would not apply to Israelis who committed the same crimes. Same crime, different punishment. That is not justice. It is a step closer to apartheid," he wrote on X.

German spokesman Stefan Kornelius saying Berlin could "not endorse" the law and viewed it with "great concern."  

"The death penalty bill in Israel is very concerning to us in the EU. This is a clear step backwards - the introduction of the death penalty, together with the discriminatory nature of the law," said European Union spokesman Anouar El Anouni.